A gas tax hike will solve exactly none of our problems

News reports indicate that Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao is considering a higher gas tax to pay for the $1.5 t...

Posted: Feb 17, 2018 2:27 PM

Updated: Feb 17, 2018 2:27 PM

News reports indicate that Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao is considering a higher gas tax to pay for the $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan. "The President has not declared anything out of bounds, so everything is on the table," Chao said.

What a terrible and counterproductive idea. This tax increase would cost American families about $34 billion per year, one policy analyst told CNBC. And a good chunk of the recent tax cuts for the middle class would be snatched away at the gas pump.

That's true. Almost everyone agrees that the current financing structure for good roads and highways is flawed and inefficient. But a federal gas tax hike would contradict the goal of the Trump infrastructure plan, which is to rely more heavily on states, localities and private investment to pay for modernizing our roads and bridges.

Yes, there are some local roads that badly need repair, but sending more money to the feds is a guaranteed way to get that money squandered. What is true is that new road construction hasn't nearly kept pace with the rise in the number of driving miles over the last 30 years (up 50% between 1980 and 2010, with miles continuing to increase for five consecutive years since 2012).

But this isn't because of a lack of road funding or a so-called "highway trust fund shortfall." It is primarily because according to a Heritage Foundation report, at least 25% of fuel tax funding is used for non-highway projects such as mass transit, bike paths and bus service.

This hijacking of gas tax dollars helps explain why we have so many potholes the size of a beach ball -- and why the problem will get worse if the gas tax is raised.

Congress typically raids about $10 billion a year from the highway trust fund to pay for mass transit projects. Motorists largely don't benefit from public transit because, according to a report from the Census Bureau, as recently as 2013, 86% of all workers commuted to work in a private vehicle, either alone or carpooling. Public transit has a minuscule impact on traffic gridlock -- except for a few high-density cities like Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago and San Francisco.

It's a 20th century solution to 21st century infrastructure needs. In about 25 years, it's plausible that a large number of Americans will have automated cars that will pick them up wherever they are, and whisk them off instantly to where they are going -- door-to-door.

In other words, in a generation, many experts say that mass transit is going to be as obsolete as the rotary phone, and we will be ripping up the tracks, not laying them down. We will have smart cars, smart roads, smart traffic lights and congestion pricing to keep traffic flowing.

Every car will have an EZ pass that will charge drivers for the roads they use and only for the roads they use. Time-consuming toll booths, already on the decline, will be no more. This will allow the private sector to own, operate and maintain our roads with minimal government involvement.

This improved transportation network could add hundreds of billions of dollars to the American GDP. And all this can be done with lower, not higher, gas taxes paid at the pump.